Lenny Dykstra was sitting in front of the television in his California home Wednesday night when Jose Reyes hit a leadoff home run in the first inning of Game 6 of the NLCS.
Like usual, Dykstra’s thought was quick and to the point.
“Game on, man,” he said yesterday in a phone interview. “That’s what it takes to win.” The homer put the Mets on their way to a 4-2 victory, forcing last night’s Game 7.
Dykstra knows something about leadoff home runs. He smacked one off Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd at Fenway Park in Game 3 of the 1986 World Series when the Mets were trailing 2-0 in the series. The homer put the Mets back in the series.
“That whole thing was about me changing the momentum,” Dykstra said. “That was one of the few times I ever tried to put a crooked number up there. It was one of the rare times you try to do it, and then you do it.” Dykstra and Reyes have some history.
In Spring Training of 2005, Dykstra took Reyes out to eat in Port St. Lucie, Fla. At the time, there were questions about Reyes’ effectiveness because of injuries.
“We talked about baseball and situations,” Dykstra said. “I told him, ‘The team can’t win without you.’ He recognizes that. We talked about setting the tone and getting on base and getting the rally started.” Reyes recalled the conversation yesterday.
“We just talked about being a leadoff hitter, making the pitcher work,” Reyes said. “We talked about taking pitches. He said you have to get on base. The more you get on base, the better.” Dykstra is a big fan of Reyes. “Nails” enjoys watching how much enjoyment Reyes gets out of playing.
“The kid has fun,” Dykstra said. “The kid is letting his talent show up and there’s so much of it. We’re in the entertainment business. I told him that at Spring Training two years ago. We didn’t go over hitting, fielding. We went over the mental part of the game. This is when he was beat up and everyone was down on him because his hamstring.” On Wednesday, Dykstra thought back to that conversation when he saw the ball sail out of Shea, giving the Mets a quick jump. Just as he did 20 years ago, Reyes used a quick blast to get the Mets going.
“It’s huge,” Dykstra said. “It just takes the air out of them.”